5 Keys to Learning Different Pitches

Ever wonder why all those pitches your pitcher practices never seem to work too well during games? Do your pitchers give up more hits than you think they should, and yet they say they have all these different pitches? Well there are 5 Keys that all successful pitchers know when it comes to using different pitches to become successful. These 5 keys never go out of style, they always apply no matter who the latest-greatest pitcher is, and the best part - they're simple to understand!

1. Pitchers DON'T need to have every single pitch! What they do need is the ability to throw inside and outside, up and down with control. If they can do this with a moving pitch, great. But if it takes their fastball in order to hit a location that's also great!
2. Pitches Take Time - It will take a pitcher at least 1 year to learn how to throw a pitch and master it's movement and control. Too many pitchers want to learn new pitches and think after a few weeks they should be able to make them move and hit their spots. It takes time and isn't easy, which is why not every pitcher is an outstanding pitcher.
3. Great Location with No Movement Beats Movement with No Location It's the biggest reason that pitchers get hit hard in games. Too many pitchers have too many pitches that they can make move, but that they can't control their location. So what happens is they leave too much ball over too much of the plate and good hitters hit them HARD! If your pitcher went through the regular season pretty well but then suddenly got hit really hard in the playoffs or at nationals - that's the reason! In the bigger tournaments she started facing hitters that were capable of hitting balls that were too much over the plate.
4. Fastballs Are Never UnCool Help your pitcher take control of the strike zone and the batter by throwing her fastball more! Too many pitchers never practice or throw their fastballs once they start learning pitches. Yet they can't really throw their new pitches in games since they're new, but because they don't practice their fastballs anymore they can't throw those either - so these pitchers can never get ahead in the count. Stop the madness and throw fastballs for strikes!
5. The Glove Matters The catcher's glove is not a suggestion that a pitcher can choose to ignore, it's where the ball must end up. Period! I see too many pitchers telling their catchers to change their target because they don't want to throw it there…or they count the pitch even if they missed it by a mile! This won't cut it in a game and it certainly won't work at the higher levels. Catcher's and coaches work hard to determine what pitch to call and where that pitch must be thrown in order to attack a batter's weakness and it's the pitcher's job to hit the glove! Period! Close isn't good enough if you want to pitch at the higher levels so work more on controlling the pitches you have and less on getting more pitches since your catcher only has so many fingers anyway!

Check out our great new Pitching eDrills that will help your pitcher learn the different pitches correctly!